THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES ASSOCIATION
PHD AWARD 2012
The AWGSA PhD Award was established to promote and advance feminist scholarship in Australia by
recognising emerging research in the fields of Women's and Gender Studies and related disciplines. The
first year the award was made was 2010. It is awarded biennially so this is the second time it is being
presented. The PhD Award is given to the most outstanding doctoral thesis completed at an Australian
university over the past 2 years that clearly and extensively engages with feminist paradigms.
The nominations for this award were doctorates conferred during the period 2010-2011. The judging
panel was really impressed by the quality of all the entries which demonstrate the great diversity of
feminist research being produced at doctoral level in Australia. The judges short-listed four dissertations
to read in their entirety before selecting the most outstanding, and a highly commended. In making these
decisions we paid attention to the challenging nature of the questions raised by each thesis, how
effectively they advance debate in the areas addressed, the overall quality, and potential for publishing.
In this way, we concluded that the PhD Award for the dissertation that represents the most substantial
contribution to the fields of Women’s and Gender Studies in Australia should be awarded to Dr Anitra
Goriss-Hunter (PhD, University of Tasmania).
The judges also wish to Highly Commend the work of Dr Amy Dobson (PhD Monash).
The judges’ citations follow:
AWARD WINNER
DR ANITRA GORISS-HUNTER,
‘WIRED AND DANGEROUS: MATERNAL BODIES IN CYBER(CULTURAL)SPACE’
This is a sophisticated dissertation that uses feminist theory to address constructions of the maternal
through new technologies as sites of potential disruption and feminist intervention. Goriss-Hunter works
over a range of theories and sites, including online communities, digital interactive media and artworks to
identify and theorise the convergence of bodies and technology that generate new narratives of maternal
agency, activism, and desire. Innovative and original in its argument and scope, this work charts a way
through digital media and maternity to map new possibilities of representational regimes, not least
through its own poetics and evocative language which lend a distinct pleasure to reading. Goriss-Hunter
is an adept theorist and an astute commentator, and the judges considered this work to be outstanding in
the field of feminist doctoral work over 2010-2011.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
DR AMY DOBSON,
‘BITCHES, BUNNIES AND BFF (BEST FRIENDS FOREVER): A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF YOUNG
WOMEN’S PERFORMANCE OF CONTEMPORARY POPULAR FEMININITIES ON MYSPACE.
This work comprises a significant engagement with digital media which feature young women’s selfrepresentation through text and imagery that Dobson names ‘hetero-sexy’. It grapples with complex and
often contradictory issues, drawing on the historical legacy of second wave feminist aesthetics and visual
theory while seeking to make sense of the apparently oppressive identities available to young women
through discourses of choice and empowerment. The trick with this work was in not patronising MySpace
users and their agency, and it is to Dobson’s credit that she achieves this with finesse. The judges were
impressed not only by the way this work expands the ways in which youth, sexuality, and choice can be
understood through postfeminist regimes of representation online, but also its contribution to feminist
theories of visuality and representation in a digital age. The work of this doctoral dissertation is significant
and the judges considered it important to recognise this through awarding a high commendation.
Judging Panel for the 2012 Award:
Professor Alison Bartlett (University of Western Australia),
Dr Anthea Taylor (University of Queensland),
Dr Jessica Cadwallader (University of Groningen),
Dr Sally Newman (Monash University)
Dr Julia Horncastle (University of South Australia).
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